Zeus was Re: [CR]Zeus seat pillar

(Example: Production Builders:LeJeune)

From: "Wspokes" <wspokes@penn.com>
To: <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
References: <20051127001003.ZDAN1233.aamta09-winn.ispmail.ntl.com@smtp.ntlworld.com>
Subject: Zeus was Re: [CR]Zeus seat pillar
Date: Sat, 26 Nov 2005 19:49:06 -0500
reply-type=original

I think the painful downfall of Zeus was largely due to the compatibility issues. Zeus made some very fine quality components. lightweight and good looking items BUT they were very proprietary in that the cranksets used a very different pattern in compared with other markets. The price was high also...just slightly below that of campy yet siginificantly higher than the orient so if you were going to "pay that much"...you might as well go campy ended up being the general thought. Zeus had been around a long time though, from 1926 or so onward...it was just not helpful that history intevened a bit in kicking them down during some key periods also...civil strife...etc...and with the help Italy received in rebuilding some economy after WWII...and the significance that Italy stressed on cycling in general...it helped campy. Zeus did have some nice innovative ideas and the quality remained very good also. But they had the home market and beyond that...they were out of the general battle for supremacy in components.

I love my Zeus and I love the zeus components. They have their own little following now.

Walter Skrzypek
Falls Creek, Pa
http://www.fixedgearhooligans.com


----- Original Message -----
From: greenjersey@ntlworld.com
To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
Sent: Saturday, November 26, 2005 7:10 PM
Subject: [CR]Zeus seat pillar



> Its my recollection that Zues largely copied Campag. Certainly in 1970
> they were advertising a two bolt seat pillar identical to a Campy. My
> guess is early eighties.
> I don't believe that Zues kit ever had much of a following outside the
> home market.
> In one respect they were in advance of Campag as I see that the 1970
> Criterium chainset went down to a 36 inner ring so clearly there was some
> originality.
> Ray Green Brighton England
>
> -----------------------------------------
> Email sent from http://www.ntlworld.com